The present invention relates to a projection apparatus for projecting images on a cylindrical screen for purposes of simulating the view from a ship and being included in a ship simulator.
British Pat. No. 1,406,365, German printed patent application No. 2,554,972, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,862,358 describe projection systems for and in a ship's simulator. The equipment is usually constructed so that the field of view as actually displayed or projected is controlled by a computer. A trainee controls and steers the "ship" and thereby modifies that field of view in a feedback type operation in which the trainee is an active participant.
The image being displayed is usually a composite one and includes, e.g. open see, harbor views, channel shores or general shore lines. Superimposed upon such a background are images of buoyances, light houses, light ships or even of ships moving in relation to the simulator ship. German printed patent application No. 2,319,545 discloses a ship simulator which includes a separate projector for such a supplemental display. The projector is a slide projector disposed on a rotatable turret for selective display of individual slides. The turret simulates a horizontal movement of the object being displayed, but that type of visual simulator lacks realism and is limited to horizontal movement. U.S. Pat. No. 3,862,358 discloses a synthetizer in which the scenery being displayed results from superimposing different live views as observed by cameras, the views being models. Again, this kind of simulation lacks realisms to a considerable extent.